Sunday, 12/10/17
Both the First Reading and
the Gospel have their unexpected aspects. What is unexpected about the first
reading, from Isaiah 40, is that it follows a hundred and fifty years after
Chapter 39. Chapter 39 of Isaiah recounted how in 710 B.C. the king of the new
country of Babylon came to introduce himself to King Hezekiah of Jerusalem.
Isaiah prophesied that at some future time Babylon would cause Jerusalem great
trouble.
Chapter 40 of Isaiah picked up
the story a hundred and fifty years later, after Babylon had enslaved Jerusalem
for seventy years, and were then conquered by Persia.
The unexpected thing about
the Gospel was something that happened to me twelve years ago. Fifteen years
before that when in was talking to our school kids in church, I asked the kids
what John the Baptist ate when he was in the desert. One Sixth Grade girl correctly
answered, "He ate locusts and wild honey."
That had me saying, "You
are a wild honey."
Then, fifteen years after
that, a young lady at the Car Wash was down on her knees, scrubbing my whitewalls.
She looked up at me, and asked, "Don't you know who I am?
When I said I didn't
recognize her she said, "Why, I am Wild Honey."
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